Benjamin Netanyahu lights the first candle
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara lit the first Chanukah candle – shown via Zoom – with the World Zionist Organization (WZO) and representatives of Diaspora Jewish communities.
Photo: Koby Gideon (GPO)
Prime Minister Netanyahu said: “This is an especially happy Chanukah. We are expanding the circle of peace with Israel, and are attaching Morocco to as it well.
This is gigantic news. The light of peace has never been so strong. We are bringing peace. We are also bringing coronavirus vaccines. We are bringing hope and blessing to the people of Israel this Chanukah.
There is nothing like this evening, in this place in Jerusalem, on this holiday, to mark the huge change that occurred in the annals of our people. The Maccabees saved the Jewish people; they saved the Jewish heritage and religion. Without them the Jewish people would not exist.
We have many reasons to celebrate this Chanukah. A happy holiday to you all. A happy holiday to the people of Israel in the Diaspora.”
On Morocco, he added: “I’ve always believed that this historic day would come, I’ve always worked for it. I want to first thank President Trump for his extraordinary efforts to expand peace, to bring peace to Israel and the peoples of the Middle East. President Trump, the people of Israel and the State of Israel will be forever indebted to you for your magnificent efforts on our behalf. I want to thank, too, the King of Morocco, King Mohammed VI, for taking this historic decision to bring a historic peace between us.
The people of Morocco and the Jewish people have had a warm relationship in the modern period. Everybody knows the tremendous friendship shown by the kings of Morocco and the people of Morocco to the Jewish community there. And hundreds of thousands of these Moroccan Jews came to Israel, and they form a human bridge between our two countries and our two peoples, of sympathy respect, of fondness and love. I think that this is the foundation on which we can now build this peace. We’ll resume liaison offices quickly between Israel and Morocco and work as rapidly as possible to establish full diplomatic relations. We’ll also institute direct flights between Morocco and Israel and Israel and morocco, giving this bridge of peace an even more solid foundation. This will be a very warm peace. Peace has never – the light of peace on this Hanukkah day has never – shone brighter than today in the Middle East.”
Also participating were Minister David Amsalem (via Zoom), WZO Chairman Yaakov Hagoel and representatives of Diaspora Jewish communities (via Zoom) from Greece, Italy, England, the US, Hungary, Poland, Scotland, Sweden and Germany and others.
